England Spectacles & Provenance Case – Liverpool, c.1940s–1950s

A Rare British Domestic Relic – Over 70 Years Old

Catalogue Note

This compelling ensemble, preserved for over seven decades, offers a rare and intimate portrait of British domestic life during the mid-20th century. The lot includes a robust metal spectacle case with its original fabric lining and an unmistakable patina of age, a pair of round-lens spectacles (fractured at the bridge and upper rim, constructed from early tortoiseshell-pattern plastic), and two original handwritten artifacts—a provenance label and an evocative grocery list.

The interior label identifies the owner and address: Brown, 62 Higher Rd, L’pool 25, a classic Liverpool postal district from a time when addresses bore no modern postcodes. The shopping list, written in both block and cursive hand, records period brands and daily essentials: “Persil,” “P.G. Tips,” “All Bran,” potatoes, kippers, whiskey, bacon, and more. Quantities such as “2 lbs sugar” and “2 doz eggs” capture the practical realities and rationing culture of the era.

Liverpool in the 1940s and 1950s was shaped by the aftermath of war, rationing, and the resilience of its working-class neighborhoods. For many, possessions were few and functional, and families depended on local shops, community ties, and careful budgeting to navigate everyday hardship. Items like these—spectacles kept despite damage, lists reflecting both scarcity and small comforts—embody the dignity, ingenuity, and perseverance of ordinary people living through profound social and economic change.

Surviving intact through nearly eight decades, this piece stands as both a social document and a tangible artifact of working-class Liverpool in the 1940s–1950s. Items like this are seldom encountered in such complete form, offering collectors and historians a direct link to the vanished routines, brands, and identities of Britain’s postwar years.

• Documented provenance to Liverpool, England, c.1940s–1950s
• Original spectacles, fractured at bridge and rim, with patinated metal case and handwritten ephemera
• Shopping list includes iconic period brands and daily essentials
• Evocative survival of British working-class domestic history
• Ideal for collectors of ephemera, social history, or optical heritage

This is not an ordinary antique: it is a singularly complete, museum-worthy record of British working-class life in the 1940s–50s. Comparable pieces with this level of provenance, narrative detail, and untouched ephemera are virtually never found on the open market. 

For the collector or institution seeking authenticity and tangible history—this is an irreplaceable, story-rich artifact, priced accordingly.